I was Toxic

This is more of a message that I admit I did something stupid than anything. So at the beginning of the season I ranked in mid platinum and since this is my first account I ended up playing healers all 10 placement games. So after I received my rank I decided I wanted to hit diamond to impress all my friends in college and a couple guys on my schools Overwatch team.

I immediately after that began losing SR until I hit mid gold and after playing for over 15 hours out of the last 30 hours I began to get kind of toxic. I called my team a bunch of retards on more than one occasion and likely was reported several times. Now I’m chat banned as we speak and I think I deserved it for being toxic. I know Gamesmanship is in my name and I love playing cheap but at I’m genuinely curious of 2 things

1. How do I climb in SR I’ve tried everything from flexing between tank and healer which from what I read online is in demand.

2. How do I properly communicate to teammates if they aren’t picking the right heroes for a certain comp or counter without being toxic and straight up telling them to switch?

1. How do I climb in SR I’ve tried everything from flexing between tank and healer which from what I read online is in demand.

2. How do I properly communicate to teammates if they aren’t picking the right heroes for a certain comp or counter without being toxic and straight up telling them to switch?

1. Speaking from personal experience, solo-queuing isn't the best idea, considering the losing steak you might go through before a win. 2-stacking is generally good, but make sure you partner with someone who isn't static on a couple heroes. He/shes gotta be flexible. As for your flexing problem, it isn't a problem. Flexing is kinda the best thing you can do for your team, but make sure you pick the hero right for the map and switch if necessary.

2. If teammates aren't cooperating, either slightly adjust to what their playing, or if their really stubborn, as in they won't switch even after proving that their hero isn't doing the team good, just report them.

It gives you a solid understanding of half, or a little over half of your team and still allows a few randoms to help as well. Sometimes amazing (Lookin' at you gamesaver Mike) or sometimes not so good.

It'll always be a bit of a mixed bag but playing with a few friends usually makes a huge difference for me :)

This is just one possibility out there but what I do if I think we need a switch is try to say it in a way that isn’t person-specific, and isn’t damning. I’ll explain more.

Let’s compare “Genji go healer” to “I think we could swap a DPS for a healer”

The first one targets one person. No matter how neutrally or innocently you mean it, singling one person out will likely affect their mental state. And this is before the game even begins! It can create a self-fullfilling prophecy to single one person out as being a weak link on the team, even if you have 0 intention of it doing that. No, not everyone is this sensitive, but I usually go with the lowest common denominator for the sake of keeping the team morale high.

When you make a more general comment like “any dps switch to any healer,” I just fine people respond better. It feels so much better to have the choice in your hands to switch, and I’ve found that, while there are those stubborn people who will say FU to anyone who looks the wrong way at them, there are people who are more than willing to switch if you ask right. It doesn’t bring it out in anyone if they’re feeling like you’re singling them out or demanding though. Does that make sense?

Here’s some more of my go to phrases (which can vary depending on the situation). I find you don’t even have to ask for a swap sometimes.

“I think we have too many DPS. If we stick with this comp we need to play very carefully so we don’t all get melted”“We are lacking a main healer, we need to keep an eye on our health while in fights in case a healer can’t get to us”“We don’t have a shield tank, we should use corners to peek and be careful about taking poke”

Some more that may be more focused on swapping:“They have a shield and we don’t, we are losing the poke war, we could focus on breaking barriers more or have someone go Reaper or Junk”“Their Genji was killing it last round, does anyone feel confident playing one of his counters?”

This is just one possibility out there but what I do if I think we need a switch is try to say it in a way that isn’t person-specific, and isn’t damning. I’ll explain more.

Let’s compare “Genji go healer” to “I think we could swap a DPS for a healer”

The first one targets one person. No matter how neutrally or innocently you mean it, singling one person out will likely affect their mental state. And this is before the game even begins! It can create a self-fullfilling prophecy to single one person out as being a weak link on the team, even if you have 0 intention of it doing that. No, not everyone is this sensitive, but I usually go with the lowest common denominator for the sake of keeping the team morale high.

When you make a more general comment like “any dps switch to any healer,” I just fine people respond better. It feels so much better to have the choice in your hands to switch, and I’ve found that, while there are those stubborn people who will say FU to anyone who looks the wrong way at them, there are people who are more than willing to switch if you ask right. It doesn’t bring it out in anyone if they’re feeling like you’re singling them out or demanding though. Does that make sense?

Here’s some more of my go to phrases (which can vary depending on the situation). I find you don’t even have to ask for a swap sometimes.

“I think we have too many DPS. If we stick with this comp we need to play very carefully so we don’t all get melted”“We are lacking a main healer, we need to keep an eye on our health while in fights in case a healer can’t get to us”“We don’t have a shield tank, we should use corners to peek and be careful about taking poke”

Some more that may be more focused on swapping:“They have a shield and we don’t, we are losing the poke war, we could focus on breaking barriers more or have someone go Reaper or Junk”“Their Genji was killing it last round, does anyone feel confident playing one of his counters?”

Something you may have to accept is that with such little experience you may have been carried to your initial rank. The system has so little to go on with new players that it has to take a stab in the dark. Don't be disheartened if you fall a bit during your first few weeks and take the opportunity to learn as some of the people you are playing with will be able to give you some useful tips.

Props to you for wanting to get better, I know what It's like to be toxic and also want to move past that behaviour. Hang in there

1. How do I climb in SR I’ve tried everything from flexing between tank and healer which from what I read online is in demand.

Being flexible is important, but make sure you're able to be effective with the hero you're choosing. (Both in terms of your own performance and how you work as a team) It helps to know what kind of playstyle you offer with that hero.

2. How do I properly communicate to teammates if they aren’t picking the right heroes for a certain comp or counter without being toxic and straight up telling them to switch?

Best thing I can recommend is asking what the reasoning is behind their pick. If you come from a logical point, It's a lot easier to reason with them as opposed to saying they're bad at them or the like. Once you figure out what they're going for, see if you can get your team to work around it.